This Is Like Killing Someone To Me

Said Butterfinger today when he deleted his Warcraft characters and gave away all of the riches he had accrued in the past 4 years. He is right. These characters have transformed into something much bigger than the pixels they occupy on a vapid computer monitor, and have taken on a life of their own outside the realm of WoW. They are a second existence for Butterfinger, and the place they inhabit represents another realm parallel to our own being. I have only played the game a handful of times and have a very limited knowledge with regard to the many intricacies that take place in game with regard to gaining experience, having a relationship with a guild, being successful on quests, and becoming a profitable member of Warcraft society, but I can understand how removing all ties with a character you have spent so much time developing could be compared to death.

And so ends an era. It began with a twilight trip to be amongst the first in line to obtain the newest copy of WoW (complete with signatures from all of the developers and creators), and ended quietly on a Tuesday afternoon without much fanfare; Butterfinger wandering through the game giving away everything he had worked so hard to earn. As we get ready to board the plane and head back to Pennsylvania I can tell he is in a state of unrest, which can really only be described as depression and mourning. It really is as though he had to let go of a friend today. Not much else to write about it really, he just knew it was time to close this chapter of his life and move on to something bigger and better – I can hardly wait to see what it is:)